Gar-door fastening



(No Model.)

P. H, MURPHY.

GAR DOOR FASTENING.

No. 401,574. Patented Apr. 16, 1889.

Invmtav/ UNITED STATES- Pa'rnnr rrrcn.

PETER I-I. MURPHY, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOR FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming'part of Letters Patent No. 401,574, dated April16, 1889.

Application filed September 26, 1888. Serial No. 286,412. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PETER H. MURPHY, of East St. Louis, in the county ofSt. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Oar-Door Fastenings, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification.

This is a device for locking the door to the car in such manner as toform a hermetic joint at the sides of the door, and also to give meansfor the application of a car-seal. The device has acam-shaft turning inbearings on the side of the car and with cams adapted to press againstthe outer side of the door, which latter is made to slide, carrying thecam-shaft with it, said shaft being supported on bearings attached tothe door.

Figure I is a side elevation of a-car-door and part of the side of abox-car having the fastening upon them, the parts being shown in lockedposition. Fig. II is a similar view of the locking device, except thatit is shown unlocked. Fig. III is a horizontal section at III III, Fig.I. Figs. IV and V are enlarged detail vertical sections at IV V, showingthe bearing-catch respectively engaged and disengaged. Fig. VI is anenlarged detail section at VI VI, Fig. I. Figs. VII and VIII areenlarged detail sections at VII VIII, Fig. I, showing the cam indifferent positions. Fig. IX is an enlarged detail section at IX IX,Fig. I, showing the sealing device. Fig. X is an enlarged detail sectionat X X, Fig. I. Figs. XI and XII are enlarged detail sections showingthe weather-strips. Fig. XIII is an enlarged detail section at XIIIXIII, Fig. I.

At 1 is seen part of the side of a box car.

2 is a door supported on hangers 3, which work on a hanger-rail, 4E. Thehangers embrace the rail loosely, so as to allow the door a certainmovement to and from the side of the car. The lower edge of the door isheld by guide-cleats 5.

6 is a rock shaft or bar having bearing in boxes 7, attached to thedoor, the bearing being elongated horizontally, as seen in Fig. XIII, soas to allow of the described movement of the door to and from the sideof the car without springing the shaft 6. WVhen the door is closed, asseen in Figs. I and III,

the shaft 6 has bearingin boxes 8 and 9. The box 8 is permanently fixedto the side of the car, while the box 9 is only attached when the dooris closed. This box 9 has a projection, 10, with a hook, 11, adapted toengage over a pin, 12, which is inserted in the jamb 13 of the door, arecess, 14, being made in the side of the car to allow the movement ofthe projection 10 in its engagement and disengagement with and from thepin 12. The box 9 may be held on the shaft 6 by a split key, 15, asshown, or by any other suitable means. Upon the shaft 6 areeccentric-cams 16, which bear against projecting plates 17, secured tothe door, when the shaft is in the position shown in Figs. I, III, andVII. In this case the cams force the door hard against the side of thecar. In order to make ahermetic joint between the door and the side ofthe car, Weather-strips 18, of rubber, are let into the door at theedges. hen it is desired to make the joint tight against rain or sparks,it may be sufficient to provide the strips 18 for the vertical sides ofthe door only, as the upper edge is close to the roof, and neither rainnor sparks could enter at the bottom of the door.

WVhen the improvement is used. on refrig erator-cars, the strip iscarried all around to prevent the passage of air.

The shaft 6 has two collars, 19 and 20, which are between the boxes 7and limit the endwise movement of the shaft, as will be readily seen bycomparing Figs. II and III. When the shaft is in the position shown inFig. II, the cams 16 are out of line with the bearingplates 17, and theshaft may be turned to either position without the cams acting on thedoor.

21 is a handle projecting at right angles from the shaft, and which isused to turn the shaft about one-fourth of a rotation. The relativeposition of the handles and the cams 16 upon the shaft is such that whenthe handle is hanging downward the salient parts 22 of the cams are incontact with the bearingplates 17 and the door is pressed tightlyagainst the side of the car. In order to lock the handle in thisposition it is slotted for the passage of a lug, 23, projecting from theface of the door, said lug having an orifice for the engagement of apadlock, 24. (See Fig. I.)

The parts 111. y also beheld in this position by a pin, 25, which passesthrough a diametrical orifice, traversing the box 9 and the shaft andwhich has at the lower end an orifice for the passage of the wire of anordinary carseal, 26. (See Figs. I and IX.) The cams 16 are secured tothe shaft by set-screws 27 or equivalent device, allowing theiradjustment upon the shaft to accommodate doors of various thicknesses.

The weather-strips are shown to be confined by strips of metal, whichform the edges of the door; but this is not an essential manner ofconstruction, for the metal strips may be dispensed with and the weatherstrip-maybe inserted in grooves made in the inner face of the door, asindicated by broken lines in Fig. XI.

In order to hold the shaft 6 in the position shown in Fig. II the box 9may have aprojection, 28, on the opposite side to the hooked projection10 and of greater weight than the latter. It will be understood that inthe absence of the pin the box 9 is loose upon the shaft 6.

The operation is as follows; Supposing the door to be locked and sealed,as seen in Fig. I, and it is desired to open it. The seal is broken andthe pin 25 drawn out, and the lock 24 is disengaged from the lug 23.Then the handle 21 is lifted up into an approximatelyhorizontalposition, carrying the salient parts 22 of the cams away from thebearing-plates 17 and allowing the door to hang loosely from the car.The projection 10 of the box 9 is now disengaged from the pin 12 byturning the box backward on the shaft 6. The handle 21 is now pushed tothe right. This first carries the collar 20 against the right-hand box7,

carrying the left-hand end of the shaft 6 from the box 8, and acontinued pressure 011 the handle carries the door to the right andopens it. The movement of the shaft 6 to the right in its boxes 7carries the cams out of line with the bearing-plates 17, so that thehandle may now be dropped into a vertical position without bringing thecams in contact with the door, it being remembered that thebearingplates project beyond the general face of the door. To look andseal the door, the handle 21 is lifted into a practically-horizontalposition and pushed to the left. This first carries the collar 19 to theleft-hand box 7, and then the door is moved with the shaft to the left.The end of the shaft enters the fixed box 8, and when the door hasreached its closed position the projection 10 of the box 9 is thrownover and the hook 11 engaged on the pin 12. Now the handle 21 is throwndown to a vertical position and the pin 25 passed through the box 9 andshaft 6 and the seal applied. The door is now tightly forced against theside of the car and the parts locked and sealed. As an additionalprecaution, the padlock 2 1c may be applied to hold the handle 21 down,or the padlock alone may be used to lock the parts in position. For themore holding of the door in a closed position neither the pin 25 norlock 24 are essential, as the weight of'the handle 21 tends to keep theparts in this position, and there is no counter force sufficient toraise it.

The shaft 6 is shown and described with two cams, 16, adapted to pressupon the door. A single cam would answer the same purpose, although lesseffectually, the principle being the same in either case.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a car-door, of a shafthaving bearings at each side of the door and having a cam bearingagainst the door, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a car-door, of a shaft having a cam bearingagainst the door and supported in a fixed box, and a detachable boxconnected to the car-body at opposite sides of the door, for the purposeset forth.

3. The combination, with a car-door, of a shaft extending across thedoor having hearing in boxes attached to the car-body at opposite sidesof the door, a cam on the shaft adapted to bear against the outer sideof the door, and a box connecting the shaft to the door, substantiallyas set forth.

4.. The combination, with a sliding car-door, of a shaft having bearingin boxes attached to the car-door and to the car-body each side of thedoor, and carrying a cam adapted to press the door inward by the rotarymotion of the shaft, and a handle upon the shaft by which the shaft isturned and also held in position, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with a sliding car-door, of a cam-shaft extendingacross the door having cam bearing against the door and turning in boxessupported on the car-body at 0pposite sides of the door, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination, with a sliding car-door,

of a cam-shaft having cam bearing against raised plates 17 upon the doorand turning in boxes attached to the door and to the body of the careach side of the door, said shaft being capable of endwise motion uponthe door to carry a cam, as 16, out of line with a bearingplate, 17,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. The combination, with a sliding car-door, of bearing-boxes fixed tothe door and the carbody at one side of the door and a detachable box atthe opposite side of the door, acamshaft turning in said boxes andhaving a cam bearing upon the outer side of the door in a given positionof the shaft, the shaft and one of the boxes being traversed in suchposition by a perforation adapted to receive a locking-pin,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. The combination, with a sliding car-door, of the cam-shaft having acam bearing against the outer side of the door, boxes fixed to the doorin which the shaft has rotary and endwise bearing, collars upon theshaft limiting its endwise movement on the door, a

door adapted to receive the end of the shaft in closing the door, and abox, as 9, turning freely on the shaft and having a projection adaptedto engage the car-body, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

9. The combination, with a sliding car-door, of a shaft having bearingin boxes fixed to the car-door and to the car-body at one side of thedoor, and a box at the other side of the door turning upon the shaft andattachable to the car-body, the shaft having en dwise movement in thefixed boxes independently of the movement of the door, cams on the shaftadapted to bear upon plates projecting from the face of the door, thesaid plates, handle upon the shaft acting by gravity to hold the shaftin a locking position, and strips 18, forming a tight PETER H. MURPHY.

WVitnesses SAML. KNIGHT, EDw. S. KNIGHT.

